


Hot chocolate

by Anonymous



Series: philinda AUs <3 [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Fluff, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, POV Melinda May, Parent Melinda May, Philinda AU Challenge, SO MUCH FLUFF, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, daisy cant pronounce words, did i say there was fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25680484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: [ COFFEESHOP AU ]Melinda takes her daughter to try out a new coffeeshop one day, and the owner is nice- and is great with kids. Adorable philindaisy fluff ensues.Or: Even as a five year old, Daisy Johnson May is captain of the philinda ship :D
Relationships: Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Series: philinda AUs <3 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859632
Comments: 21
Kudos: 123
Collections: AOS AU August 2020, Anonymous





	Hot chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> tee hee thanks to sancturia for hyping up this fic, and betaing it and also just being a lovely person in general  
> go check her out :)

“Daisy, baby, stop,” Melinda called out as her five-year-old daughter started skipping ahead on the sidewalk, halting with a pout right before a stoplight. 

“Don’t cross the street without me, alright?” Melinda chastised. Daisy frowned and started bouncing in place, waiting impatiently for her mother to catch up so they could cross. “But you’re so _slow_ ,” she complained, dragging out the word dramatically.

Melinda chuckled and took her daughter’s hand before allowing Daisy to drag her across the street. “Wow, you _really_ want that hot chocolate, don’t you.”

“You promised, Mommy!” Daisy exclaimed. “‘Cos I was good at the lib-ary.”

“Lib _r_ ary, honey.”

“Lib-ary.”

Melinda sighed and smiled at her daughter swinging her arms back and forth. Once they reached the sidewalk, she let go of her mother’s hand and started skipping ahead.

“Baby, hold on. You passed the cafe.”

Daisy frowned and whirled around as Melinda checked with Google Maps to make sure she was in the right place before stopping in front of a cozy cafe called Bright Bites that she'd decided to try. “In here,” Melinda prompted, holding the glass door open for her daughter and then following the bouncing child inside.

Lined with vines and string lights, the atmosphere of the cafe was cozy and warm, with a smell of coffee and citrus filling the air. Seeing no line, Daisy bounded up to the front counter, pouting when she was too short to see over it. She reached her tiny hands up and tapped them on the top of the counter impatiently.

A man in a black apron and wire-rimmed glasses came out from the back area wiping his hands on a towel, grinning as he saw little fingers trailing the edge of the marble. “Hello, little one,” he said kindly, leaning on the counter and then looking up to Melinda. “Welcome to Bright Bites! I’m Phil; I’ll be helping you today. What’s her name?”

Melinda felt her breath catch as she met the bright blue eyes, but quickly covered it up with a light cough before smiling brightly. “Hello. Her name’s Daisy. I’m Melinda,” she supplied, before realizing that he’d only asked for her daughter’s name. She quickly covered up her words by asking, “You’re the manager?”

“Owner, actually,” he answered brightly. “I gave the kids that work here the day off; they could use it. Finals week for universities, you know.”

Melinda sighed internally. She hoped she hadn’t offended him by assuming he wasn’t the owner. She probably hadn’t, but still.

“What would you like?” He asked.

“A hot chocolate, please,” Daisy piped up, standing on her tippy toes so that her eyes were peeking up at Phil. She smiled happily. “You’re pretty.” 

Phil chuckled as he started making Daisy her hot chocolate. “Thank you very much,” he answered, visibly amused. 

Melinda had to agree with her daughter’s blunt and unfiltered compliment. In truth, he _was_ pretty. He had blue eyes that sparkled and a smile that lit up the room- Damn, she was getting sappy, and she didn’t like it. She hadn’t been cheesy about a man like this in years. She must’ve been getting old and soft.

“And for you?”

Melinda shook her head. “I don’t drink coffee.”

“She don’t drink coffee!” Daisy confirmed.

“We have tea,” he suggested, and his smile was so earnest that she returned it and shrugged. “Sure, thanks.”

“Let me guess… you’d like a hibiscus tea?” he asked, filling up a mug with hot chocolate.

“Yes, please,” she answered, a little surprised that he guessed her favorite tea. Daisy was too. 

“Are you a _mind reader_ ? Mommy drinks hib- hib- hib _issus_ every day.” Daisy stumbled a little over the words before grinning widely at Phil.

“Maybe I am,” he shrugged with a playful wink, which Daisy gasped dramatically at. 

“Mkay. _Proof_ it,” she demanded. “I’m guessing of a number one ta’ ten. What number did I choose, mister _mind reader_?” 

Melinda flushed at her daughter’s challenge but looked to Phil for his response. Briefly, she hoped that he wouldn’t be annoyed at her daughter’s many questions. Daisy’s loud antics were endearing to her, of course, but obnoxious to some others, and when they brushed her daughter off or got annoyed Daisy tended to feel mistreated and would be upset for a while. But she hoped that Phil… 

“Hm.” Phil set the hot chocolate down and put his hands on his hips, pretending to think. “What about… three?”

Daisy squealed before tugging on Melinda’s sweater sleeve. “Mommy, he read my mind!”

“I saw that, baby,” she chuckled. ‘ _Thanks_ ,’ she mouthed at Phil, who shrugged, responding silently, ‘ _Of course. She’s adorable.’_

“Since you’re such a sweet young girl, we’ll make your hot chocolate extra special on the house, Daisy.” Melinda’s daughter beamed. “Okay, which marshmallows should I use?” Phil spoke up, holding up two bags- one pink, one plain white.

“Pink, pink, pink!” Daisy exclaimed. While her favorite color was purple, pink came in close second.

Melinda swung Daisy up into her arms to sit comfortably on her hip so the girl could watch as Phil poured a ton of marshmallows into the brown drink before putting it under some metal contraption. It stuck a flat metal spoon-looking thing into the drink before spinning very quickly, churning the marshmallows and hot chocolate together, making it even thicker. Daisy looked on in delight as Phil finished the drink by adding a load of whipped cream to the top and a quick, questioning glance to Melinda to make sure all of the sugar was okay. She nodded begrudgingly, knowing that her daughter would be bouncing off the walls later but appreciating how kind he was being.

He set the mug onto the counter with a flourish before moving away to boil some water. Daisy reached for it, but Melinda gently put her hand in front of the mug, blocking her daughter’s grabby hands. “What do you say, Daisy?”

“THANK YOU!” Daisy hollered out of nowhere, already hyped up and ready to drink the sugar bomb. This caused some of the other people in the cafe to look over in alarm before chuckling at the small, impatient girl and turning back to their conversations and food. 

“That was unnecessarily loud, baby,” Melinda told her daughter, attempting to sound stern but breaking involuntarily into a smile. 

Daisy giggled apologetically before she reached to pick up the large mug but yelped melodramatically when her tiny fingers touched the very warm sides of the mug. Melinda chuckled sympathetically and gave Daisy’s hand a kiss before picking the hot drink up herself, carrying it over to a small table that was near to the counter and next to a window.

As she instructed Daisy to sit and blow on her hot chocolate for now, Melinda found herself back at the counter, wanting to speak to Phil some more. “Just waiting for the tea,” she explained unnecessarily as she leaned on the counter.

“‘Course. I’m almost done,” he said. He brewed her tea while she watched in comfortable silence.

“Will you be coming back?” After having asked this, Phil flushed, before explaining, “You don’t have to, of course, but it’d be nice to see you again-”

“Yeah, I will.” Melinda smiled at him, amused by his rambling, and he mirrored her with a grin before handing her her tea; a napkin wrapped around the mug so Melinda wouldn’t burn her hands on the ceramic. “Thank you- for being kind to Daisy.”

“Of course. I hope I see you around here again soon. It was nice meeting you.” He smiled, and she ducked her head down to hide the blush spreading across her cheeks. She made her way to the table where Daisy was sitting, kicking her legs happily. 

Melinda sat across from Daisy, smiling at her daughter and feeling warm.

“I- if yuh-ood lie…” Daisy squinted at the napkin wrapped around the tea mug while sounding out words. Melinda cocked her head in confusion before picking up the napkin to read the neat handwriting she hadn’t noticed before.

“Huh. ‘If you’d like to have another hibiscus tea, here’s my number-” she paused, her eyes scanning the phone number and the smiley face below the note. As she read, she smiled, before pursing her lips and folding the napkin carefully and tucking it into her pocket.

“Mommy?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Are you in love?”

Melinda spluttered and coughed into her tea before sending her daughter a bewildered look. “Where did that come from, baby?”

“You were looking at Mister _mind reader_ like you was in love,” Daisy answered loudly, completely oblivious to her mother’s reaction as she continued to ramble something about how she still wasn’t entirely convinced he could read her mind.

Was it that obvious? And no, she wasn’t in love, thank you. But she maybe wanted to get to know him better. “Oh, Dais. Well, maybe one day, far far away. It probably won’t happen but… there’s a chance…” she found herself saying, a little surprised at herself for admitting that she could have a romantic future with somebody. She hadn’t felt that way in years.

“Did you love my Daddy?”

Melinda found herself smiling sadly at her daughter. Andrew, her only husband, had died before they could realize their dream of having kids. Daisy had been adopted shortly after his death and sadly never knew him, but Melinda still told her daughter stories about him, and how he would’ve loved to meet her and be her father. 

She still loved Andrew, in a sense, in a way that she’d never truly forget. But she’d been ready to move on for years. “I used to. But, now he’s not here anymore, so there’s a little more room in my heart to find somebody else, maybe.”

“So is mister mind reader going to be my _new_ Daddy? Because you might love him?”

“Daisy!” Melinda flushed, shaking her head. “No, that’s… no, baby, I barely know him.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “I wish I had a daddy,” she said, pouting, before brightening. “But at least I have a Mommy. And that’s _just_ as cool,” she exclaimed. 

Melinda chuckled. “Thanks, baby.” She reached across the table and squeezed Daisy’s little hand before wiping her daughter’s chocolate mustache off with another napkin.

As Daisy sat, sticking her tongue into the whipped cream and giggling whenever she swallowed the sweet froth, Melinda looked up and caught Phil’s eye as he was making another drink for another customer. She smiled at him and he winked before turning back to the customer he was helping.

Melinda took another sip of her tea, smiling as she knew exactly what she was going to do whenever she got home and settled Daisy down in her room. 

Melinda’s daughter grinned knowingly as she took a giant bite out of her whipped cream, somehow managing to get it all over her face. “So are ya’ gonna _kissy_ him now or what?”

“ _Daisy_!”

**Author's Note:**

> "hibisuss"


End file.
